1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of breath alcohol testers.
2. Prior Art
In many jurisdictions, it is illegal to operate a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
In some jurisdictions, a person who has been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol is required, prior to recovery of full driving privileges, to participate in a program which involves the temporary installation of a breath alcohol ignition interlock device [BAIID] in his or her vehicle. The BAIID is capable of receiving and analyzing a breath sample, to determine the extent to which the person giving the sample is under the influence of alcohol, and renders the vehicle disabled until a satisfactory breath sample is delivered; in this context, “satisfactory” typically means a sample that shows alcohol below a predetermined limit and that appears to have been delivered by a human [temperature, humidity, etc.]
It is commonplace for the breath alcohol tester portion of the BAIID to be tethered to the interlock portion of the BAIID by a physical link. However, in recent years, breath alcohol testers have become smaller, thereby to permit this part of the device to be a separate, hand-held, battery-powered device, that communicates with the interlock portion of the device by wireless connection. This can have some advantages in terms of economies of scale; certain manufacturers make two variants of the same hand held device, one which is used as a hand held personal breath alcohol tester, the other being used as part of a BAIID.
It is relatively rare for a manufacturer to make allowances that would permit the breath alcohol tester portion of a BAIID device to be used for personal breath test purposes; normally, this is discouraged, since breath samples that evidence breath alcohol in excess of the threshold amount permitted by a jurisdiction are viewed as failed attempts, and can prolong the period in which an offender is required to remain on the program.
Users who wish to avoid “fails” can purchase personal breath testers; however, good quality breath testers are relatively expensive, and persons that are already bearing the cost of a good quality breath tester [in the BAUD] are relatively less able to bear this cost, and often do without.